KENT'S chief fire officer has told MPs that shifting spending to fire prevention would save more lives.

Peter Coombs was giving evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee looking at the Fire and Rescue Service White Paper.

The Government has indicated that it wants to see fewer fire fighters at stations at any one time and wants firefighters to adopt greater medical training to help save lives in accidents like motorway crashes.

The recent firefighters' pay dispute centred around the proposed changes in working practice.

Mr Coombs said after the meeting that more money should be spent on educating people about preventing fires breaking out at the cost of reducing the number of firefighters on call.

He said: "We think this issue will save more lives in Kent than responding to emergencies alone. Over perhaps a 10 year period, operational response has not particularly diminished fires in the home and deaths and injuries that arise."

But fire safety work in the community had cut the average number of deaths and injuries each year, from 185 five years ago to 96 over the past five years. "That's firefighters going around knocking on doors," he said.

Mr Coombs added: "We're not saying we're going to close any fire stations." The committee did not ask his views on medical training for fire fighters.

Mr Coombs told the Kent Messenger: "A lot of firefighters have additional medical training above first aid anyway. The suggestion is that we would consider extending that, crews being issued with defibrillators for example."

Mr Coombs said Kent Fire and Rescue Service would do that if Kent Ambulance Trust was in favour of it.

He added that the interests of the county's 750 retained fire fighters - serving at 43 out of 66 stations - should not be neglected.

There are about 1,000 full-time fire fighters in Kent. The Kent Fire Brigades Union was unavailable for comment.

* Kent Fire and Rescue Service will publish its draft Integrated Risk Management Plan at the end of the month, detailing proposed changes to the service. Extracts will be available on the website www.kfb.org.uk